A Dhaka court on Tuesday placed former Netrokona-1 lawmaker Mustaque Ahmed Ruhi and another accused on a four-day remand in a murder case filed over the death of Raju Ahmed, an employee of Janani Courier Service in Mohammadpur during the July uprising in 2024.
Dhaka Metropolitan Magistrate Md Ismail passed the order after Mohammadpur Police Sub-Inspector Md Zahidul Islam Kabir, also the investigation officer in the case, sought a seven-day remand for the two accused.
The other accused is Kabir Hossain, 46, former joint secretary of the Mohammadpur thana unit of the Awami League. He is a named accused in the case.
During the hearing, state prosecutor Faruk Hossain Faruqi sought remand, alleging that the accused was an associate of former prime minister Sheikh Hasina.
He told the court that protests were taking place in front of an alley near Janani Courier Service in the Bashbari area of Mohammadpur during the July movement.
Raju, 24, an employee of the courier service, had joined the protests when gunshots were fired, the prosecutor said.
The prosecutor also alleged that Mustaque’s name had surfaced during an investigation into the BDR killings.
Defence lawyers opposed the remand plea, saying Ruhi was elderly and had recently lost his daughter. They urged the court to allow investigators to question him at the jail gate if necessary.
After hearing both sides, the court granted four-day remand.
Police arrested the accused from a house in Mohammadpur on 23 September, and a Dhaka metropolitan magistrate sent them to jail the following day.
According to the case documents, Raju was shot while watching the July protests in front of Janani Courier Service in Mohammadpur. He later died while undergoing treatment at Dhaka Medical College Hospital.
Following his death, Raju’s father filed the murder case with Mohammadpur Police Station.
In the remand petition, police said they needed to interrogate the accused to recover the weapon allegedly used in the killing, arrest fugitive and unidentified suspects, and uncover the circumstances surrounding the murder.
